Park Tools

Energy

National Mall and Memorial Parks strives to reduce energy consumption and to increase energy efficiency at its facilities. For example, in 2012, the park partnered with Sylvania and the Trust for the National Mall to retrofit 174 street lamps along the National Mall with high efficiency Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). These retrofits generate an annual energy savings of approximately 77,500 kWh, or a 65% energy savings when compared to the high intensity discharge (HID) and compact fluorescent (CFL) technology that existed previously. See https://www.sylvania.com/en-us/innovation/case-studies/Pages/national-mall.aspx for more information about the lamps and their energy savings.

The food and souvenir kiosks located to the north and south of the Lincoln Memorial, constructed and managed by park concessioner Guest Services, Inc., are heated and cooled through a closed-loop geothermal system. These systems use the constant temperature of the earth below the kiosks for indoor heating and cooling, to cool the walk-in refrigerators and freezers, and to operate the ice-making machine. Guest Services, Inc., states that this saves millions of gallons of water each year and drastically reduces electricity consumption at the kiosks.

The park expects to continue to install energy efficiency upgrades and to investigate strategies to generate renewable energy in the near future. The park is currently participating in a regional-level project to investigate options and implement energy conservation through a DOE-sponsored Energy Savings Performance Contract.